Scott Pilutik

I am an attorney and consultant living and working in Manhattan, focusing primarily on church/state constitutional law. I'm a recognized expert on the Church of Scientology organization. I also have strong interests in intellectual property law where it intersects with emerging media, and free speech.

Response to Irrational Obama Hatred on Facebook

[/the below comment is from a Facebook thread in response to a conservative friend of mine but I think it reads well removed from that context so am publishing here/]

Okay, so you have a problem because Obama chooses business winners? And he's ignored so many laws? You've just described every president in the history of this country. Oh, he bailed out the auto industry? I'll admit I had misgivings and still do about that but it's not as if the US hasn't bailed out an industry or a company before (e.g., savings and loan under G H Bush, whose son Neil had a stake and was largely let off the hook). Plus, the auto bailout worked (which is why it's not a campaign issue).

Solyndra? You mean the company that was funded by the DOE renewable energy program started by the W Bush administration? Every president expresses support for newer, cleaner, renewable energy and the program by which Solyndra was guaranteed a loan was a part of that. And Solyndra was also one of only two companies (out of 33) that failed by that program, meaning that the overall program was largely successful. And it wasn't even that the program was transparently doomed from the outset–as the bankruptcy report concluded, it was unanticipated market forces that did Solyndra in (China flooding the market with cheaper flat panels). The outrage over Solyndra, only some which is justified, doesn't match up well to the facts; but is unsurprising when considered against what companies like Solyndra represent to the industry they threaten–money out of the far more leveraged oil/gas companies' pockets. If you're getting outraged over Solyndra, you're largely being manipulated by the oil & gas industry and Rupert Murdoch.

The evidence you cite for economic disparity can't really be pinned on Obama or government handouts to the poor because the problems that led to this started long before he showed up, as the economy was made into a smoking crater only months before he landed in DC. Granted, he's not done enough to correct the problem but not for reasons we'll likely agree on. The stimulus package should've been much larger and the states held accountable for utilizing the money on infrastructure projects instead of balancing their own deficits. And the Wall Street firms that caused the collapse shouldn't have gotten a hundred cents on the dollar because they've no disincentive to repeat history and just find another bubble to inflate with new and exciting financial mechanisms that maybe three people on earth understand.

I believe change is needed too. But the problems are larger than Obama, as all he's done is maintain the status quo. Oh, and expand Bush-era 4th-amendment-eroding programs like warrantless wiretapping and torture. The irony for all the ignorant talk of how Obama's a secret Marxist Muslim, whatever that is, is that the country would probably not look significantly different under any Republican president for the last four years, with the notable and real exception being judicial nominees.

KISS: Republicans are currently, either rich, or stupid. (pats self on the back for avoiding th "R" word.)"Legitimate" rape, bodies shutting down. No science, and when that rules, we burn folks at the stake.There isn't two sides to every issue.Clowntime is over.

https://plus.google.com/113046259650045569399 Dan O’Leary

KISS: Republicans are currently, either rich, or stupid. (pats self on the back for avoiding th "R" word.)"Legitimate" rape, bodies shutting down. No science, and when that rules, we burn folks at the stake.There isn't two sides to every issue.Clowntime is over.

https://plus.google.com/115184359805220011519 george payton

GOD !!!!! You could screw up a wet dream from my pretty ponny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!